CCL Membership Director Scott Jenkins was kind enough to plow through the archives of our rich 120-plus years of history to help reveal 
some of the unique lore behind our storied golf course and Hole 13 in particular.
1917
Golden Age Architect William (W.B.) Langford designed the first Hole 
13 with a tee shot over a ravine and an approach guarded by a natural 
pond on the left and Woodsdale Boulevard behind. The only tree 
on the course, a native cottonwood, stood above the pond between 
Holes 13 and 14.
Langford submitted the original layout for the “new” Country 
Club golf course in the fall of 1917, after the Club purchased the 
current property from the Woods Brothers earlier that year. Even 
though he lived in Chicago, “Lincoln” was one of Langford’s first 
designs after he hung up his shingle as a golf course architect in 
1915. He was likely recommended to our club after redesigning the 
St. Joseph Country Club (MO) in 1915 and laying out Milburn C.C. 
(KS) in 1917.
We don’t know whether Langford ever visited the property or just 
drew the routing on a topographic map mailed to his Chicago office, 
which was a common practice back then. Charles Johnston, the head 
pro at Happy Hollow in Omaha and architect of several Nebraska golf 
courses, was actually in charge of constructing the course Langford 
designed, and Johnston likely visited the property to prepare a map 
for him.
The only evidence we have of Langford’s involvement at Lincoln 
is the following:
1. A December 30, 1917, Lincoln Star article which published his 
original routing of the course.
2. The minutes from the November 21, 1917, CCL Board meeting, 
noting a payment of $150 “to have Mr. Langford of Chicago examine 
and approve Mr. Johnson’s work on the new golf links.”
All but two of the holes (Holes 9 and 10) on the current golf 
course follow Langford’s original plan. While Langford’s routing 
included plans for wild bunkering throughout the property, Hole 13 
and Holes 6, 7, 8, 12 and 15 were not finished.
1918
Due to many Nebraskans being deployed to World War I in late 1917 
and early 1918 (including the head golf professional since 1914, 
Leslie Davies), progress on the new golf course stopped as soon as it 
started. Langford didn’t return and his vision for dozens of diagonal 
bunkers and blind approaches was never realized, but the layout of 
his holes remains to this day.
1920
Instead, the course was finished in the early 1920s under the 
supervision of Country Club of Lincoln’s next golf professionals, 
Andy Andrews (March 1920 to August 1920) and Norman Sommers 
(1920 to 1925).
Even though CCL couldn’t claim to be an authentic Langford 
design, Hole 13 was most definitely a lasting example of his 
impressive use of the Midwest’s rolling terrain.
Just as Langford imagined in 1917, Hole 13 was an idyllic two-
shot hole for the longest hitters that favored a fade off the tee and 
a draw into the green. The tee was set on a hillside and forced the 
player to carry a ravine that bordered the right side of the hole 
before descending to the natural drainage that framed Woodsdale 
Boulevard. Like many of Langford’s surviving designs, the green was 
pushed up into a shelf, with bunkers pressing into the entrance to 
the green on both sides.
1921
Club member and Nebraska’s first professional Landscape Architect 
Ernst Herminghaus completed a tree planting plan adding dozens 
of oaks, elms and ash trees to both sides of Hole 13. The entire 
landscape plan for the Club grounds included 10,000 trees, shrubs, 
flowers … the largest single planting project in the city’s history to 
that point.
1922
In May of 1922, the property was “fenced with cement posts and 
galvanized wires and the shrubbery of the ground has all been set out 
to the landscape architect’s plans.” The Members continued to use 
the old golf course at 7th and Washington Streets until the course was 
completed the following year.
1923
The new golf course officially opened for play on April 1, 1923.
1924
The State Tournament was hosted at Country Club of Lincoln in June 
1924. Hole 13 was described as a “466-yard par 5” with “a sporty 
rolling fairway lying in a dogleg” and a “banked putting green with a 
premium on crisp, clear pitching.”
1927
Architect William H. Tucker from New York was contracted to 
renovate the course while he was in town to build the new Shrine 
Club golf course (now Hillcrest C.C.). Tucker installed irrigation on 
the fairways and added a bunker on the front left of the green. Tucker 
later built the Pioneers Golf Course in the early 1930s.
The History of Hole 13
at Country Club of Lincoln
One of the interesting things about the 1917 design is the 
fact that Hole 13 offers one of the best views of the state 
Capitol building in downtown Lincoln, and the golden dome 
topped by the Sower is a perfect aiming point off the tee. 
But, in 1917, the current Capitol building didn’t exist. An 
architect for the new Capital wasn’t even chosen until 1920, 
and the 400-foot tower wasn’t in view from the Club until it 
was halfway completed in 1929.
Yet, Langford pointed a hole in that direction, and the 
setting grew up around it. This is just one example of the 
surroundings falling into place to make Hole 13 truly a special 
golf hole.
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